Broc Parkes retired from today’s Grand Prix of the America’s with the PBM rider hamstrung by tyre and mechanical problems.

Speaking after the race the Australian was clearly disappointed to have been forced to pull into the pits and retire on the eighth lap of the race, “I hate retiring from races, when you’ve raced in 24 Hour races it’s always hard to retire after eight laps.”

When asked what had been the problem with the tyres in those early laps Parkes said:

“I had a lot of chatter in the front from the start of the race and for some reason the bike felt really slow in first, second and third gear. I don’t know if something was going on with the electronics but after that the chatter got so bad that I had to come in. It’s unfortunate because in warm-up I had done some laps on used tyres and it had felt good so I don’t know if it was a tyre problem or what that caused the problem. I haven’t spoken to Bridgestone yet about it. There was definitely something wrong with my bike as well though. It was really slow and misfiring so the boys are going to look at that.”

Looking forward to the next round of the championship in Argentina Parkes is pleased that, unlike in Texas, he will start off with the same experience of the circuit as the majority of the field:

“The good thing about Argentina is that very few guys have been there so that’s a bit more of a level playing field. Normally I learn tracks pretty quickly so it should be good.”